I'll Cover You
by Ultimate Queen of Cliffies
Summary: Elphaba Thropp had waited for the love of her life to join her for fifty-three years, eight months, and eleven days. Because so many people asked me for it: a one-shot sequel to No Day But Today. Fiyeraba, of course.


**Some of you asked me for a sequel to _No Day But Today_ on Twitter and after a few such questions, I promised you a drabble. Somehow, though, the drabble became to long to actually remain a drabble... so here is a fluffy one-shot sequel of Elphaba and Fiyero meeting again in the afterlife. I hope this makes up for the ending of _NDBT_ a bit.**

 **This one is dedicated to Moreanswers24 as a belated birthday present. I hope you had a nice day! *hugs***

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 **I'll Cover You**

Elphaba Thropp had waited for the love of her life to join her for fifty-three years, eight months, and eleven days.

All that time, she'd been there, waiting and watching. Every time he looked up and breathed her name, she smiled. Deep down, she thought she'd always known that he would never forget her. The fact that he often seemed to sense her presence shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did.

She was glad to see that her friends all stuck together and took care of one another. Boq and Nessa's relationship wasn't unexpected and she was proud to be an aunt to their three children. She hadn't exactly seen Fiyero and Galinda's marriage coming, but she supposed it made sense, in a way; and she felt extremely touched and honoured when they named their first child after her and made her the baby's godmother. Even though she wasn't really _there_ , she felt like she was – like she lived through all her friends' milestones with them.

Now, she watched as Fiyero exhaled his last breath in the bed beside his wife. Galinda wouldn't realise her husband was dead until she awoke in the morning and found him, Elphaba knew; and although she had no doubt it would be a shock to her still-mostly-blonde-but-slightly-grey-haired friend, she also knew that Galinda would be all right. She was stronger than she looked.

The old man in the bed died and at the same time, Fiyero's soul materialised beside the bed, looking a little bewildered for a moment as he stared down at his own body. He blinked – once, twice – and then he raised his gaze to Elphaba.

He silently took her in, from her head to her toes and back up again, and then her name escaped his lips in a breath. "Fae." He frowned. "You haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

She laughed, unable to blink back her tears. She'd waited for this moment for so long. "Hello to you, too, Yero."

"Am I dreaming?" he asked, dazed. "Or..." His eyes widened as he took in the scene before him again and realisation dawned on him. "Am I...?"

"You're not dreaming," she told him and that was all the answer he needed. The expression on his face turned from shock to awe and then he was suddenly standing beside her.

"Fae," he whispered again and then he crushed her to his chest, holding her so tightly she would have been unable to breathe if she had still needed breath. He kissed her, deeply and passionately and desperately, and she kissed him back.

When she pulled away, there were tears in his eyes and she smiled and softly kissed him again, slipping her arms around his neck. "You certainly took your time, didn't you?" she teased him gently. "I've been waiting for you for ages. That's good, though," she hastened to add. "The longer, the better, actually."

He stared at her, drinking her in. "It's really you?"

"That depends on your definition of 'really'," she said with a shrug. "I suppose I'm not technically here, but I don't exactly know how it works. It's me, though." She brushed his hair away from his face and he closed her eyes for a moment at her touch. "I missed you so much, Yero. I feel selfish for saying this, since you're leaving your family behind, but I'm so glad you're finally here. It's been lonely," she admitted.

"You're not selfish," he protested. "You could never be selfish. I love you," he murmured, clutching her to him, resting his chin on the top of her head and closing his eyes. He breathed in her scent, marvelling at how it was still the same as he remembered even as he wondered how he could still smell and see and feel when he was, apparently, dead. It didn't matter, though. Not when she was here. "Oz, Fae, I love you. Have you...? Have you been here? All this time?"

She nodded. "All this time," she confirmed. "I never left, Yero. Did you honestly expect me to?" She grinned at him, so widely she thought her face might split in two. "I promised Galinda I'd haunt her, didn't I?"

He choked out a laugh, unsure of whether he should laugh or cry, wondering if this was really happening. He'd been content with his life, but he couldn't deny the fact that he'd been longing to see her again from the moment she'd slipped away in his arms.

She cradled his face between her hands, smiling as she looked into those sapphire blue eyes again and actually saw them looking back at her for the first time in so long. "We have a lot to talk about," she told him.

He nodded. "Later," he said softly and she agreed.

"Later. We have time," she said. "All the time in the world, actually." She traced his features with her fingertips as she had loved to do when she'd still been alive. It made him cry all over again, but she wiped away his tears.

He choked out a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "I just can't believe you're really here. It's been so long without you, Fae – every day without you felt like a year, but at the same time it feels like it was only yesterday when you passed away."

She smiled. "I know," she whispered. "You visited me every day. But I'm here now and so are you, and we won't be separated again," she said. "You're stuck with me. Forever," she added teasingly and he let out a breath.

"Thank Oz for that," he mumbled, pulling her closer again. He just held her for a while, neither of them speaking or even moving, trying to let it sink in that they were finally together again after so long. For good this time.

He glanced at Galinda, still peacefully oblivious and asleep in the bed, and Elphaba followed his gaze.

"We'll keep an eye on her," she promised him. "On all of them. My goddaughter, too," she said proudly. "And your grandchildren, of course."

Fiyero looked at her in amazement. "You know about that?"

She winked at him. "I know everything."

He chuckled, mostly because he wasn't sure what else he could do. It felt like a strange, but really vivid dream he could wake up from at any moment now. He pinched his own arm and grimaced at the pain. No dream, then. Although how he could still feel pain was a mystery to him, since he didn't technically have a body anymore. He made a mental note to ask Elphaba if she knew more about all this afterlife stuff later, but for now he just wanted to drink in her presence.

"Come," she said softly, holding out her hand. "Let's find someplace where we can be alone for a little while to talk. I imagine you have a lot of questions."

"Not really," he said honestly. "Not right now, anyway." But he took her hand, unable to help the wide grin that spread across his face when he felt her fingers threading through his like they had done this every day for the past fifty-four years, and he let her lead him out of the room and down the hallway. Everything felt different somehow in death, he noted, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for the fact that she was here with him again.

She led him outside, into the crisp night air, and he discovered he could still suck the air into his lungs even though he didn't actually have lungs anymore – or even needed to breathe, for that matter. She sat down on a stone bench and he sat beside her, his grin widening even further when she scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

Suddenly he thought of something and he pulled back a little to eye her worriedly. "You… you're not in pain anymore, right?"

She rolled her eyes, even though she was smiling. "I'm dead, Yero," she reminded him. "I've been dead for almost fifty-four years. I hardly even remember what pain feels like," she confessed, a faraway look in her eyes for a moment. "But I remember the concept of it."

"What about everything else?" he asked cautiously. "Do you… remember?"

"Of course I remember." She brought her hand up to touch his cheek and he covered her hand with his own. "I remember everything. How could I ever forget?" She closed her eyes for a moment and rested her forehead against his before opening her eyes again, meeting his gaze. "Thank you," she said softly. "For keeping your promise."

He blinked, startled, and then understood what she meant. His eyes widened and he drew away from her. "You…?" He couldn't say anything else, but he didn't have to.

"I was scared," she confessed, absently brushing his hair away from his face with her fingers. "And alone. But at the end, I knew you were there. I could hear you – all of you – and I could feel you… you held me, didn't you? When I died. And you told me it was okay."

He nodded, unable to speak, his throat clogged up and his eyes filled with tears. She smiled and gently wiped his tears away. "Thank you."

Then he finally _really_ broke down, burying his face in her hair as his shoulders started shaking with sobs, and she wrapped her arms around him and murmured words of comfort in his ear as she held him.

"How is it even p-possible for me to c-cry when I'm d-dead?" he hiccupped between sobs, which made her laugh.

"I don't know," she said. "I still haven't figured out how this whole afterlife thing works, exactly. I think we could move on if we wanted to, but of course I had to wait for you first." She stroked his cheek. "Don't cry, Yero my hero. It's all right."

"I know," he managed, pulling her closer again. "You're here."

She chuckled. "Silly man," she murmured even as she burrowed into his arms. "I love you. More than you'll ever know." It seemed like all those years somehow melted away. They'd been apart for so much longer than they'd ever been together, but deep down, she'd known even then that what they had was something special neither of them would ever find with anyone else again. Maybe Galinda had been right with her stories about true love.

In the morning, the blonde would wake up and find that her husband was cold to the touch and no longer breathing. She'd weep for him, but she'd also smile and raise her gaze to the sky, whispering, "He's all yours again now, Elphie – even though he never really stopped being yours in the first place." She'd be unaware that her friends were both there; she wouldn't feel Fiyero's lips on her cheek or the touch of Elphaba's hand on hers, nor would she know that both Elphaba and Fiyero would move on after that, leaving this world forever. Together.

From now on, they'd always be together.

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 **I hope you guys liked that.  
**

 **I'm having eye laser surgery this afternoon, meaning soon I won't need contacts or glasses anymore; but that also means I probably won't be online much, if at all, in the upcoming days, because screens are no good. Finding review upon returning would make me very happy, though! ^_^**


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